Mercaptan compounds have been used as curatives for epoxy resins. However, like many reactants used in the preparation of various polymeric materials, most known mercaptan compounds are prepared from petroleum-based feedstocks. Current consumer demands, regulatory considerations, and dwindling sources of petroleum-based raw materials have created a need for alternative sources of materials as feedstocks the preparation of polymeric materials.
Some plant-based mercaptan compounds are known. For example, soybean oil has been mercaptanized as described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,910,666 (Byers et al.), U.S. Pat. No. 7,713,326 (Carstens et al.), and U.S. Patent Application Publication 2005/0197390 A1 (Byers et al.).
Various derivatives of bisanhydrohexitols (i.e., derivatives of isosorbide, isomannide, isoidide, or a mixture thereof) are known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,608,167 (Hayest et al.) describes the use of bis(2-hydroxyethyl)isosorbide as a monomer in the preparation of various polyesters. U.S. Patent Application Publication 2010/0130759 (Gillet) describes various bisanhydrohexitol derivatives with terminal —CH2NH2 groups that can be used as monomers in the preparation of polyamides. U.S. Pat. No. 7,365,148 (Ono et al.) describes a polycarbonate prepared from bisanhydrohexitol. Isosorbide diglycidyl ethers are described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,272,845 (Zech et al.).